By Proxy
by Drappersky
Summary: Even when Bruce Banner is in total control of the Hulk, isolated in the middle of nowhere, he still needed his fix. In his mind he described it as an itch and it's the reason he's been hiding. How long is he going to last without it now that he's part of the Avengers? Bruce wants to help but ends up hurting. Münchausen by Proxy -(Complete)-
1. Chapter 1

Bruce Banner was a cautious man and it wasn't just because he turned into a radioactive rage monster or that the army was trying to kill him; no, it was something more personal. Even when he was in total control of the other guy, isolated in the middle of nowhere, he still needed his fix. In his mind, he described it as an itch.

In essence, it was a compulsion to care for and aid injured people. As a doctor it helped him feel connected to and appreciated by his patients, which in turn made it easier to diagnose and treat issues other physicians would have overlooked. The problems started if there was no one to help or heal. The itch would transform from a beneficial tool into something very dangerous. Instead of feeling needed and respected by the people around him, he felt trapped and desperate, so he would start to _plan_. Then suddenly people would start to have more and more "accidents". Accidents that Bruce always happened to be there for and more than willing to help with. Bruce knew he wasn't safe to be around. There was something wrong with his head; he couldn't stand to see people hurt or sick, but he always had to have patients to take care of. So much so, that if he couldn't find someone bleeding or broken, he'd make one instead. People always got hurt around him. Either the Hulk wrecked a town or, when the itch became too much to handle, bad things would start happening to nice people.

Luckily, Bruce had found a fairly simple way to keep it in check. While hiding in multiple third world countries, Bruce found that a lot of people needed a doctor, but couldn't afford a hospital visit. So Bruce would make house calls any time, day or night. In fact, he had such a well-established network of poor and downtrodden people in India that the itch was never more than a barely-there prickle. He didn't do it for the little money that they could give him, because really there was no way he could have lived off of that. No, he did it to make sure the itch stayed useful, instead of destructive. Then he met Natasha Romanoff.

He hated that SHIELD had dragged him out of his comfortably obscure living arrangement in Calcutta. He hated that nobody on the whole helicarrier trusted him, he hated that he was put in a war zone that made him Hulk out, but most of all he hated that he couldn't leave the team to fend for itself. He should have run away and gone back to his safe place with its constant stream of people in need, but he couldn't. Maybe it was because he had been alone for so long or maybe he was just tired, but when Tony Stark asked him to stay he said yes.

Tony believed in him and appreciated his mind. Tony wanted Bruce to come play in his freak'n awesome lab. Tony wasn't scared of Bruce even though he'd seen what the Hulk was capable of, so he stayed. Bruce lost the battle to keep himself distanced from the limelight, but he promised himself this new arrangement would only last as long as the itch stayed at bay. Luckily for Bruce, Tony had been so beaten up after the battle with the Chitauri and then falling from the sky, after almost dying in space, that the itch wouldn't be a problem for a long time. Of course Stark had the best doctors that money could buy, but Bruce was the only one willing to live with him in the Stark Tower labs until the penthouse was fixed. Tony also had some rather self-destructive habits. Pretty much a live-in doctor was needed to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't reinjure himself by testing out a new invention or drinking himself into a coma before he was properly healed.

The first month and a half of living in the tower was great. The labs were mind-blowing and Stark's company and ideas keep him nicely busy. Tony's multiple injuries kept the itch down to a whisper and things were almost relaxing. He got to know the team better, under much less stressful circumstances and they seemed to like him for his demeanor, brains and the Hulk's brawn too. The difficulty didn't start until Tony pronounced himself completely healed and told Bruce that he could now stop "mothering" him.

The itch started small, an annoyance that wouldn't go away when he tried to meditate or sleep but after a week, of no one even getting a scratch, it amplified. He should have just left right then, packed his bag and headed back to his network in India, but Tony had looked so upset when he mentioned leaving, _god damn those kicked puppy eyes_, and now everyone on the team wanted him to stay. They were all trying really hard to make him feel welcome, he missed being around people who actually cared, but if he was going to stay, the itch couldn't. It was constant and unbearable inside his brain, he wished he could take off the top of his head and just rub it away but he knew there was only way to stop it. He needed his fix. Bruce felt absolutely horrible about starting to plan, but if he started out small, just enough to channel his doctoring instincts, maybe things would work out for the best. Something that was easily treatable, but that took time and attention to heal.


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper Potts was in and out of Stark Tower frequently. Getting Tony to sign things and interrupting his lab time. A model of efficiency, not only as Tony's assistant but with everything from art galas to dealing with SHIELD. Short skirts, perfectly curled hair, she was brisk and to the point, Pepper was constantly going, never stopping. Back, forth and everywhere in those silly, clicky, high-heeled shoes that he knew, as a doctor, weren't good for her. Would it be so horrible if he would help her with that problem? She was a good target. High heels are notoriously unstable, heels will twist an ankle with one wrong move and Bruce knew just how to make that happen. He could easily make it look like an accident and it wouldn't seem out of place for him to catch her when she tripped, if it happened in a communal area of the tower. The plan was nothing crazy or over the top. Bruce just needed the itching to stop, not to _seriously_ hurt someone.

Monday morning Miss Potts arrived at Stark Tower on time as usual, with a stack of papers for Tony in one hand and her phone in the other. Getting off the elevator at the top floor she quickly made her way towards Tony's lab. Rounding the corner to head down the short flight of stairs that led to the R&amp;D section of the penthouse, she heard someone close by call her name. Pepper's head whipped around to see who had requested her attention, but her body didn't follow. She felt a pop in her ankle as she fell, her papers and phone went flying from her hands, cascading down the stairs. Then before she hit the ground, an arm darted out, grabbing her around the waist and holding her up. Pepper's ankle gave a sharp throb as she tried to get her feet back under her. The arm around her waist pulled her back from a tumble down the staircase as she wobbled. Saved, she opened her eyes wide, breathing rapidly as she found herself clinging to Dr. Banner. He supported her weight and calmly asked if she was okay.

The pop her ankle had made as her shoe stopped and she didn't was audible. It was like perfectly orchestrated music, the plan and the trap had worked beautifully. When he swooped in to help, Pepper had stared at him with round eyes as he carried her over to the couch. He did a quick check of her ankle. It was good and sprained. This was the best part, the doctoring. The itch subsided as he rotated the ankle and propped it up on a pillow. It all but disappeared as he went to go get a first aid kit, ice and tell Tony about Pepper's accident. On his way down to the lab, he picked up her phone and the papers she had dropped. The heel trap he'd set up minutes before she arrived on the top floor, clicked lazily as he casually slid it into his pocket.

Pepper was out of commission for two weeks with an ankle brace and doctor's orders to take it easy. She kept working from the office, but delegated a lot of the running around to others in the company. When she finally reclaimed all her duties, she didn't wearing high heels for seven days even after her ankle was feeling totally better. To assess her progress, Bruce insisted on checking in and helping her whenever she came over. He made it out that he felt guilty for distracting her, but in reality every time he could help her or see her the itch would disappear. So a month passed him by without incident, living and working at Stark Tower, until Pepper started wearing high heels again.

Wonder of wonders, two days after Pepper's full recovery, a super villain decided to level a couple of city block in DC. The end goal was to destroy the U.S. Naval Observatory. Of course he didn't get anywhere close. The Avengers arrived in all their glory to beat the bad guy and his cronies in to the ground. They won, captured the bad guy and put him in SHIELD's custody after everything was in order the Avengers headed out for their traditional team dinner, but the best part, by far for Bruce whenever they got called out was all the doctoring after.

He liked being part of the team and how well they worked together now, but his favorite part was that after a battle they all turned to him for help "cleaning up". No one was extremely injured from this battle. The villain they'd fought, did not have the most organized of group people working with him but nearly everyone had cuts and scrapes. Bandages, braces and a few band aids were needed by all. Clint was in the worst condition, needing stiches for a four inch head wound. Ten days later Bruce was taking the stiches out for Clint. The cut looking very nice and was healing well, probably wouldn't leave a scare. The team was always grateful to Bruce for his medical knowledge, seeing as none of them liked having to go to SHEILD's medical bay for treatment. Tony and Clint especially disliked most forms of medical attention but Bruce was always available and fantastic at any kind of first aid. On top of that Bruce was an interracial part of the Avengers team, he not only knew what went down at every battle and he was always there to handle any situation too much for his more human teammates.

These kind of incidents held Bruce in good stead, till they hit a lull, three months later. Between having defeated and put away all the established super villains and the time needed for the new up starts to think they could take on the Avengers, a peace settled over Stark Tower. All the fighting then fixing the team up after had been going so well he had almost forgotten why he ever was worried about joining the group. He waited a week and then two, for SHEILD to call them in on the mission, but it seem the bad guys weren't ready to try their luck quite yet. The itch came back with a vengeance. _What was he going to do?_ The itch was eating him from the inside out. He tried to be patient, Bruce knew something would come up, but until then, he needed someone to have an accident and he needed it soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Thor was visiting from Asgard and had been staying at the tower for the past week, training with the team, telling them about the Nine Realms and trying new foods. Bruce liked the over-exuberant god a lot under normal circumstances, but with the itch keeping him from sleeping and with how loud Thor was, Dr. Banner was starting to feel less than friendly. Bruce knew that Thor was an alien prince, but that didn't give him free reign to do whatever he pleased here on earth. The god was never as careful as he should be with the "mortals" he hung out with. He was always thumping people on the shoulder so hard they could feel it in their bones or pounding them on the back with enough force to send the other person flying forward into whatever was close by. It's true that when Bruce hulked out he was not the most delicate of beings, but Thor was like that all the time and he was not just hurting enemies but friends too. The people Thor spent most of his time with were all superheroes, so no one would ever complain about rough treatment, but sometimes it really hurt.

With this in mind, Bruce once again began to plan. Thor knew very little about earth sciences. Some calcium nitrate, kept in an unstable condition, should be just about right to fix Bruce's problem and teach a lesson. This would be a good learning experience for Thor. To show him how much damage, unchecked, unrestrained strength could cause. Sure, the lab explosion he was planning might be a little extreme, but a few good glass-filled lacerations would drive the message home. Anyway, it was Thor, he would be fine.

On Thursday, after a good training session together, Hawkeye and Thor headed up to the commons area looking for entertainment and found Tony pouring himself a good stiff drink.

"I got those new arrowheads done for you, Clint." Tony remarked as he downed the drink in one long pull. "They're down in the lab."

"Yes!" Clint shouted as he punched Thor in the arm "I can't wait to see how they work. Let's go look at them now." Turning to Thor, Clint started to explain. "I asked for custom ones that once they're imbedded in the mark, shoot needle-thin spikes into the body and for Tony to improve the old heads I have." They headed off toward the lab. "Tony, you coming?"

"Na. Bruce is still down there working if you need something. I think I'm going to get some sleep."

Entering the lab they saw Bruce hunched over a computer, glasses on, hair rumpled like he'd been working all night.

"Hey Bruce." Clint greeted him as the door slid closed behind them. Looking up from his notes Bruce smiled, he looked more than a little worn around the edges. Maybe he'd been up more than one night.

"Hi, are you guys here to see the arrowheads Tony just finished?" gesturing with a pencil he pointed to the table behind him. "They're right over here. I think Tony said they've all been tested." Clint whipped out his bow and quiver as he and Thor headed over to the work bench. To try them out, Clint moved onto the firing range that Tony had in the lab to test long range weapons. After the successful first run with the spike arrow and improved heads, Thor and Clint started joshing each other about who had the best weapon. Thor laughed loudly and clapped Clint on the shoulder, making him stagger a bit as he unknocked his bow.

Bruce noticed them horsing around. "Please be careful. There are some delicate experiments going on right now. The lab really isn't a place to be messing around." Thor turned to Bruce jovially.

"For such a fierce warrior, you worry far too much." Enthusiastically, Thor walked over and thumped Bruce on the back. There was a rattling of beakers and glass containers as the hard thump threw Dr. Banner forward into the table. Suddenly there was a shattering pop and red flames. The gently simmering experiment on the table next to Bruce exploded, sending glass shards, chemicals and pieces of burning tubing flying. The glass was propelled at an amazing speed, slashing, cutting and fragmenting. The god of thunder caught the brunt of the chemical explosion on his arms, neck and face with a large amount of blood seeping from a gash over his eye. Unfortunately, Bruce had been sitting close enough to get hit with a few glancing glass shards that left small bleeding cuts along his forearm and cheek. Everyone froze as the fire subsided.

Bruce hadn't been sure Thor would bump the table enough to set off the explosion of calcium nitrate, he had prepared nearby, but the plan had gone fairly well. It all started when he noticed that Clint and Thor spent a lot of time together over the past week, so Bruce suggested that Clint ask Tony for some innovative arrowheads. Thor was always more touchy and exuberant around Clint for some reason, so it was the perfect strategy to get both of them down to the lab together and have Thor accidentally trigger the explosion. Since then Bruce had been watching Tony's progress on the arrowheads and even set up his new research table closer to Tony's work station than normal, just so he'd be sure to get Thor and Hawkeye's attention when they came down to test them out.

"Fuck! Thor, are you okay?" Bruce asked, as he pulled the god of thunder away from the destruction, to sit down on a bench that wasn't covered in glass. Instead of getting a response, Thor and Clint merely stared at him, tense and wide eyed. Bruce stared back, confused and then worried; did they somehow know the explosion was his fault? No, he let out a huffy laugh. No, they hadn't figured it out, they seemed to be waiting for him to go green. Please, if every explosion of that size made him hulk out he wouldn't step foot in any lab. Bruce did a quick check over the damage the blast had done both to the lab and Thor. Seeing nothing unfixable, he asked Barton if he was okay.

"I'm fine, what about you, Doc? Everything under control?" he asked as he searched Bruce's eyes for a hint of radioactive green.

"Nothing I can't handle." Bruce said giving Clint a half smile. "Could you please get the first aid kit. I need to patch up Thor and I may need a few band aids myself." He stated, looking at his scratched-up arm. Clint nodded as his eyes finishing their assessment of the situation and he went to grab the kit.

The only thing Bruce hadn't figured into his plan was that gods heal really fast. He knew from the get-go that Thor was tough. But it turned out that after Banner washed the chemicals off Thor's skin, pulled multiple chunks of glass out of his wounds and wiped off the blood, half of the superficial scraps on his arms looked at least a day old. Continuing anyway, Bruce put a bandage on the large gash near Thor's eye, but Thor actually laughed at him when he insisted on a cream for the chemical burns.

"You should attend your own injuries instead. Mine will be healed by the morrow. Yours will last much longer." The worst part was, Thor was right. By the time Bruce woke up, the only evidence it had ever happened was a small pink line over the god's left eye.

When the explosion happened the itch had dissipated and it lessened even more as he pulled jagged pieces of glass out of the god, but now with Thor healed, it was whispering around the edges of his mind again. After all the planning and waiting, he only got one day worth of true relief and Thor had not even been a properly grateful patient. It was maddening, not what he had planned at all. Bruce blamed it on waiting too long and letting the itch interfere with his thought processes. Well, he wasn't going to make that mistake again. This time he would start ahead, while he was still thinking clearly, to make sure he got a good long time to help his patient.


	4. Chapter 4

The Thor plan had ended badly in all the important ways. There was no one to take care of! The one thing Bruce really needed and did all that work for had disappeared while he slept. This failure left Bruce feeling horribly unsettled and frustrated, but now after three days straight in the lab Bruce was more than half way done with his next plan, a better plan. He was in desperate need of a shower and food that was not coffee or energy bars, but for some reason he just couldn't stop. He hadn't seen anyone in days and he'd been sleeping on the couch in the lab. Bruce knew something was wrong, he was not usually like this; yet he couldn't seem to walk away.

Out of nowhere a hand landed on his shoulder, it squeezed hard and then gave him a good shake. Bruce jumped out of his seat and whipped around, breathing heavily and blinked rapidly, bringing Tony into focus. Tony stood with his hands out in front of him in a "whoa there" gesture, but Bruce didn't understand why.

"Bruce, I think you've had enough," Tony stated, slowly reaching out a hand, "it's been days. Why don't you come with me and let this go?" Tony said as he pulled Bruce toward the door away from his scattered notes and flickering computer. "Let's get you cleaned up and put you to bed." As they crossed the threshold exiting the lab Bruce felt a wave of exhaustion hit him and he stumbled.

"Tony, I feel dead on my feet. I think I might fall over." Tony smiled indulgently as he slung Bruce's arm over his shoulders.

"You look like it too."

Tony helped him to his room and Bruce somehow took a shower without passing out. The last thing he remembered was Tony tucking him into bed like a child and turning off the lights. Waking up Bruce felt both better and worse. He was not as sleepy and he was clean, but he had a hell of a headache and was so hungry that he felt ill.

Shuffling into the kitchen Bruce was greeted by a huge breakfast of waffles, eggs, fruit, potatoes, bacon and oatmeal. Sliding onto a stool at the breakfast island, he grabbed a bowl as Tony handed him a glass of juice. Steve was cooking and everyone else was digging in. The whole team was together eating, which meant it must be Saturday, since that was the only time they got together without an emergency. After two sets of seconds Bruce was finally feeling like himself again.

He sighed, as he sat down in the living room, smiling happily. Thank goodness Tony had come and dragged him out of the lab. Speak of the devil, Tony carelessly flung himself down next to Bruce on the couch.

"Well, you look better." Tony smirked "and here I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one. Not the other way around." Bruce blushed.

"I may have been a little overly focused. Sorry you had to do that."

"No problem, that's what friends are there for, to pull you out before you pass out on your computer." Tony casually gestured with his left hand and that's when Bruce noticed the bandage.

"Tony, what's that?" Bruce grabbed his wrist and examined the bandaged hand. "How did you get hurt?"

Tony winced and looking sheepish, "It was two days ago, not a big deal. I was working on the R8's engine and my hand slipped. I'm sure they're just jammed." Tony had a bandage wrapped around his hand with three fingers bound together. Bruce carefully unwrapped them as Tony hissed in pain and what met his eye was not pretty. The fingers were swollen, reddish-purple and hot to the touch. One was very crooked.

"Tony, these look jammed to you? They are broken! Why didn't you come to me right away?"

"You were busy and it wasn't _that_ bad. I bandaged them up myself." he said, looking proud of himself. "They do hurt when I try to use my hand." Bruce felt sick. How could he have gotten so involved in his plans that he didn't notice that Tony needed him? God, this was so wrong! The itch had taken over and had blinded him to the very thing he needed. It threatened not only his own health, but his friend's too. He would find another way to get his fix. This destructive behavior was going to stop now.

"Okay," Bruce said, taking a deep breath, "Let's get you some ice and I will wrap and splint these up so they don't hurt. You are not to use your hand for anything for at _least_ a week."

"Oh come on Bruce, it's not that bad. I have stuff I need to do," Tony whined.

"Last night you pulled me out of the lab, thank you. Now I see how stupid I was being, isolating myself down there." Concern flitted across Tony's face as he looked at Bruce, searched his eyes for something. "Let me help you." Bruce smiled, "Straight flexible fingers are important to you, right?"

Luckily, Tony's fingers had not been beyond repair, but it shook Bruce to his core to find how consuming the itch had gotten. To think that he could slide so far off the deep end, so quickly, scared the crap out of him. It also made up his mind, he had to have a constructive outlet. One that could be called upon when needed, but could be let go if things were going well. Bruce needed a new network here in New York. There were plenty of people living in the city that would benefit from his skills. It shouldn't be hard to get set up with the right connections, but he had to do it anonymously. He didn't want anyone on the team asking questions. Now that Tony illustrated the error of his ways, Bruce was not going to let the itch own him.

In theory, it was a great idea, but both The Hulk and Bruce Banner had become very well-known after the invasion. So instead of having a pool of needy people to help that were just grateful for a doctor's assistance, Bruce ran into fans. He thought it would be fine since it was really The Hulk who was in the public eye, but the first two weeks he set up his network, four out of ten patients knew who he was. Not that Bruce didn't like fans, in fact he was glad that so many people accepted the Hulk as a superhero. The problem was he needed anonymity in this work. So he cut his visits down to four or five a month, just enough to keep the itch at bay and made sure that if people did recognize him they would conveniently forget who he was.

Despite its initial hiccups, his new arrangement worked fairly well for about four months. The itch was well within his control and slipping out for a quick doctoring visit had become routine, when everything went to hell.

Bruce was floating somewhere between sleep and waking. There were people talking in the background something about, ransom…. time… safe…. and unstable…. Finally he pulled himself away from the constant undercurrent of sleep. Everything was fuzzy, he couldn't concentrate on anything. His brain kept flipping back and forth between, Where was he? Why did his head hurt so much? Why didn't he feel right?

"Look he's awake. Let's do this now and get it over with. I still think this was a really bad idea."

"Shut up, as long as the drugs you gave him do what they're supposed to we'll be rich and gone in twenty four hours." Bruce felt mildly annoyed for a moment, before his mind slipped back to the last thing he clearly remembered.

He had been out on a job seeing to a family in the projects who had all come down with a nasty case of bacterial pneumonia. On his way back to the tower he had been thinking about the validity of Tony's new take on the quantum field theory when he felt someone watching him. This wasn't so unusual with The Hulk's new public image. People were very curious, but not brave enough to just come up and ask him to questions. For some reason this time the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. One second he was walking along a city street, itch back in its proper place, the next it felt like he was back on the run from the army. That's when he heard the silenced gunshot and felt the prick as the trank dart hit its mark.

Great, he had been kidnapped. He was fleetingly impressed with the person who drugged him. Whatever it was, kept him unfocused, sleepy and relaxed. The guys in the room were setting up a camera. Bruce didn't care, he was cold and wanted to lay down. The building he was being held in looked condemned and drafty. The people were arguing about how to send a ransom video. Dumb, he thought, Tony can track anything sent electronically. His arms hurt, they were pulled behind his back around one of the support columns of the building. Maybe he should try to get loose, but he would need a plan and that seemed like a lot of work.

"Don't worry, I've got the bomb all set up if anything goes wrong" What!? Bruce's brain snapped back on line. There's a bomb?


	5. Chapter 5

Tony and Clint were eating pizza, while having a lively argument over the validity of 3-D movies, when JARVIS interrupted.

"Sir, there is a video communication coming in from an unknown line. Should I transfer it to your personal device?"

"Nah, JARVIS, just put it up on the TV."

There are a lot of things in this world that Tony Stark never wanted to see. Bruce tied up, vulnerable and drugged out of his mind flashed up on his TV screen was definitely a big one. He hardly had time to register the ransom demands being made before he was on his feet.

"JARVIS!"

"Yes, Sir."

"Pinpoint the original location this video was sent from. I want a digital street map of where ever that is and the blue prints of the building Bruce is being held in. I also need you to get in contact with Nat and The Cap to fill them in on what's happened. I want this done ten minutes ago JARVIS!"

* * *

It was a testament to what an effective team the Avengers had evolved into that a rescue plan was formulated and about to be put into action in less than fifteen minutes.

Steve and Natasha ended up being a lot closer to Bruce's location than Tony and Clint. They were going to be heading up a preemptive strike. The building JARVIS traced the video to looked abandoned at first glance, but as they moved around to the back entrance they found that the door had been forced open. Natasha took point while Steve watched her back. As they headed up the back stairway, voices could be heard on the next level. Tony and Clint were on their way, but it seemed pretty obvious they were dealing with a group of amateurs. The important thing was to making sure Bruce was all right. They had both seen to ransom video and with how drugged up Bruce looked the Other Guy must be furious.

Any sort of resistance a gang of hooligans was going to put up was nothing compared to an out of control Hulk. Besides, Captain America and The Black Widow shouldn't have any problems taking them down, right?

* * *

Ever since his captors had mentioned the bomb, Bruce's head had been getting clearer by the minute. Unfortunately the situation Bruce found himself in had gone from annoying to extremely dangerous in a very short time. Not only was there a bomb rigged to blow the second anything went wrong, but now that Bruce had overcome the calming and sedating effects of the drug he was simply left unfocused. The Hulk always came to the forefront when he lost focus in stressful circumstances and Bruce could feel how close he was, rumbling around his head, wanting Bruce to let go. Although a hulking out would free him from this predicament, there was no way to control an angry Hulk bent on revenge. Bruce didn't even want to think about how much damage he would cause to the building or people before calming down.

Just as Bruce clamped down on the urge, out of nowhere Black Widow came flying into the room. With no more than a couple of well-placed kicks and a choke cord, three guys lay motionless on the floor. Whipping out knifes, pipes and guns the rest of the gang charged her. Bruce watched as two more guys go down without even getting near her, before she pulled out her own guns. Natasha was the most capable assassin he'd ever met, but Bruce was still worried. She didn't know about the bomb and The Hulk had redoubled his efforts to be released at the sight of her fighting all those people on her own. Just as Bruce tamped down the impulse once again, Steve came running in, completely turning the tables. The sudden entrance of Captain America seemed to trigger a freak out as the remaining members started falling left and right and that's when the bomb detonated.

* * *

Coughing up a lung full of dust, Bruce looked around. The first thing he registered was that he was still inexplicably tied to the pillar, even after the explosion. Next was that he hadn't hulked out; that drug must be more effective than he originally had given it credit for, even though The Hulk was pissed. He looked around, seeing the prone bodies of the gang members half crushed under rubble. Oh God! Where were Steve and Natasha?

"Bruce? Are you hurt?" Steve asked as both he and Natasha ran over. Kneeling next to Bruce, Steve checked him for injuries. All the air in his lungs seemed to disappear, seeing that they somehow had gotten through the blast unscathed.

"We are going to untie you and get out of here." Cap told Bruce as Natasha started cutting the bindings off his wrists. Suddenly a bullet lodged itself in the concrete of the support pillar as a single gunshot reverberated in the still air. Natasha's eyes widened as blood blossomed slowly from a wound in her upper arm. The bomb-desolated building shuddered as a red and then green mist took over Bruce's vision. As the blood soaked through Black Widow's suit, the last of the drug holding The Hulk at bay vaporized.

The Hulk tore through the tenuous hold Bruce had on him. Easily ripping free of the bindings that had held Bruce immobilized he roared his displeasure as the last supporting column holding the building up crumbled. The dilapidated structure gave a final groan as it collapsed on top of everyone.

* * *

The Hulk did not like being trapped under the building's rubble. The dust hurt his eyes. Throwing chunks of broken concrete off himself, Hulk climbed out of the building's wreckage.

_Bad Bad Bad men! Hulk angry bad men hurt gun lady! Hulk protect gun lady, Hulk smash bad men!_ But as the Hulk looked around he became more and more confused. _Where gun lady and Captain? _They were both by Bruce when Hulk decided to help. _Can't see, can't find._ With a worried huff, he looked back at the smashed building. Were Captain and gun lady still in the building? He needed to find them, to see they were safe. Hulk started to picking up and throwing big pieces of the building. _Under, under, under,_ Hulk roared his frustration. No matter how many pieces of building he moved, all he found were bad men.

* * *

Tony and Clint arrived at the coordinates given by JARVIS, but there was no building to infiltrate or Bruce to rescue. There was just a huge pile of debris and one distraught-looking Hulk. What had gone wrong? Immediately, Tony told Jarvis to pinpoint Black Widow and Cap's tracing devices. As the locator pinged its signal recognition, Tony yelled to get the Hulk's attention.

"Big Guy, over here." According to their tracking signals, Natasha and Steve seemed to be under a huge piece of the collapsed roof. It didn't look good. The only place they wouldn't have been crushed was a small gap between a collapsed wall and the base of a broken-off support column. Hulk lifted the section of roof up, tossing it out of the way. Covered in dust and small pieces of debris, Natasha and Steve were curled around each other, hurt, but alive.

* * *

After getting Steve and Natasha to the SHIELD facility for medical attention, Tony and Clint went to find Bruce. Walking out into the waiting room they found him curled up in a chair expecting to hear about there condition. The Hulk had eventually calm down after both of his injured friends were flown away to safety, getting smaller and less green until he turned once again into Bruce Banner. But Bruce was far from calm, he felt horribly guilty, rolling the whole incident over and over in his mind. How did everything fly out of control so quickly? He quickly pulled himself out of his self-deprecating spiral when he saw Clint and Tony.

"Are they going to be okay? I can't believe I let this happen. It's all my fault."

"They're both going to be fine Bruce, but we were wondering how this went down. How could you," Clint gestured at Bruce in his borrowed clothes, "get kidnapped without hulking out on their asses?" Bruce sighed,

"It was the drug. I have never experienced such a fast acting sedative/mood regulator outside of military involvement and even then they don't usually work that well. I should have been more on my guard."

"But Bruce I don't understand how you even got into a position that drugging and kidnapping you was an option for these people?

"I've been working as a doctor in, not the nicest parts of the city for the past four months." Bruce said not making eye contact. Comprehension dawned on Tony's face.

"Is that what you've been sneaking off to do every week?"

"Yeah well, I like to help people," Bruce rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously , "and I did the same kind of thing back in Calcutta. They were always grateful."

"New York isn't the same as India Big Guy, not by a long shot." Tony said. Staring back up at him with a cold look in his eye and guilt written every line of his body Bruce nodded.

"Yeah, I think I get that now."

His New York Network hadn't worked out the way he'd hoped at all. At least when Bruce was "purposefully" hurting his own people it was never anything major and he was always on hand to help. This had been ten times worse; getting kidnapped, hulking out and almost crushing two of his teammates in the process. No, sneaking off to help the poor here just didn't pay off if that was going to happen. Now he was back to square one. What was he going to do about the itch?

* * *

**Note: I would like to thank all the people who are reading my story, especially the ones who commented. I love to seeing you enjoy my work. The next person in line to get hurt is Hawkeye but I'm not 100% sure why. If you have any ideas your help would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking there's going to be 2-3 more chapters if all goes well. **


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't matter how happy Bruce was living at Stark Tower, finally being able to work in a lab again and being an active part of the Avengers. The itch was going to come back and the minute it did, Bruce was going to leave. He was never going back to planning "accidents". Playing into the itch's hands hurt everyone and dug him a hole too dark to find his way out of. The network had failed, more spectacularly than Bruce could have imagined, leading not only to his kidnapping, but to an unplanned hulk-out. On top of all the bad things that happened to him, his friends were nearly crushed in the aftermath and were now dealing with life-threating injuries. He wanted to be able to stay and put all his past behind him, but the team shouldn't have to take the brunt of his slip-ups. They were never going to be safe with him around. Once Natasha and Steve made a full recovery Bruce was going to slip away and just hope everyone would understand and let him go.

After being released from SHIELD Medical, Steve and Natasha improved rapidly. Steve had taken the most bodily damage by protecting Black Widow from the building's collapse and Bruce just thanked God that The Captain had his shield. Everything not sheltered by the shield was scraped raw into a bloody, pulpy mess that made him feel a little nauseous. Naturally, the super soldier serum had Steve up and back in fighting order after only a few days, but it was a rough week of recovery.

Natasha had not been hurt as much by the building's debris, but being stuck under a ton of concrete with a through and through gunshot wound was no picnic. She lost a dangerous amount of blood before getting medical attention and suffered respiratory distress from inhaling glass and cement dust.

They both would, of course, bounce back in time. Steve and Natasha were fighters and not to be slowed down by anything, be it an alien army or a building falling on top of them. No, the problem Bruce faced was purely selfish. With his decision to leave made he should be slowly distancing himself from the team, but Steve and Natasha made that all but impossible. He absolutely loved them as patients. It was wonderful to be taking care of people who he knew and trusted. He didn't have to sneak around or pretend to be someone he wasn't. They were both so grateful not to have to stay at SHIELD's facilities that they happily when along with everything Bruce suggested and even though he felt guilty as hell for the kidnapping incident, it was nice.

Bruce spent a lot of extra time hanging out with Natasha and Steve, not only assessing their progress and helping with physical therapy, but just being together. The subsequent three months were the longest time Bruce could remember without even a tickle from the itch; it was completely silent. Usually as the person he was taking care of improved, the itch would start to creep around in the back of his head, reminding him that soon he would need to find someone new. For some reason while taking care of Steve and Natasha, that never happened. So it was a total shock for Bruce that on Monday he was laughing and teasing Cap about a flan cooking disaster and the next night the itch was back. He packed a bag and booked a flight to Tibet leaving in less than 12 hours.

* * *

Bruce couldn't sleep. Everything was in order. His research was all backed up, his bag was packed with the essentials plus his new laptop, he had deactivated all the tracking devices Tony made to keep track of him and he had tidied his room. All that was left to do was to act normal until he got to Lhasa. Hopefully no one would be the wiser that he was leaving, until he was gone. It was 3:30 in the morning and Bruce was up reading a science journal, not taking in a word of it. He _knew_ he was doing the right thing and it was the best thing for everyone. So maybe life could be somewhat fair and stop his chest from hurting and his heart from telling him that he was making a huge mistake.

Reading by the light from a lamp, Bruce heard Tony's steps before the room lights turned on. Stark walked up behind the couch Bruce was sitting on to look over his shoulder. After few minutes of silence, Bruce finally turned away from "reading" the journal to smile up at him like nothing was wrong.

"Up kinda late." Tony remarked leaning on the back of the couch. "Is what you're reading that good?"

"No, **JHEP** doesn't have anything groundbreaking out this month. I just can't sleep."

"Then, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Bruce said, setting down the journal, hoping Tony would keep his mind off the ticking clock.

"Does your insomnia maybe have something to do with this," Tony pulled Bruce's packed bag out of nowhere and thumped it down on the couch so hard it made Bruce jump. The full duffle bag sat in front of Dr. Banner looking deflated and apologetic as Tony crosses his arms and stared accusingly at Bruce. The bag had been left under the bed in his locked room. How had Tony found it?!

"JARVIS was kind enough to tell me that you bought a one-way ticket leaving for Tibet in less than 5 hours. Thing is, I didn't want to believe that was true. I went to ask you about it in person only to be greeted by an empty, cleaned out room and a single bag filled with all your stuff. My question is…" Tony said, looming over the bag, looking angry and hurt, "What in the hell, Bruce?"

"I didn't want anyone to find out. It was going to be quick and painless."

"So you were just going to leave, without telling anyone? Without telling me?"

"Yes," Bruce stated. Tony searched his eyes for the reason, but seeing nothing but self-sacrificing conviction, he threw the bag out of Bruce's reach and took its place on the couch. He was not letting Bruce go easily.

"Why?" Tony asked, distress evident in his voice, "I thought you were happy staying here." Bruce wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to lie. Maybe he should just tell Tony about the itch. Then he would understand why Bruce staying was just not a viable option, but he had never let anyone know about it before. Sure, everyone knew about the Hulk and the military and the constant mistakes he made, but the itch was different. All the things he did to make the itch go away, all the people he hurt; the team would never forgive him. After he explained that all the accidents that kept happening in the Tower were of his making, they may question their entire friendship with Bruce. How much doctoring had he done out of concern for their wellbeing and how much was manufactured to sate the itch?

Now Tony was here, demanding answers and making a hard decision that much worse. The silence stretched on and Tony became visibly more agitated, until he snapped.

"No, no, I 'm not letting this slide, Bruce! You can't expect me to be okay with you just disappearing!" "JARVIS! Call the team. I don't care where they are or if they're sleeping, on a mission or fucking, we all need to talk right now." Before JARVIS could comply, Bruce stopped him.

"Please don't bother the team, it's late and there's really no point in arguing, I'm going." Tony looked confused. Bruce closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "I don't want to go," he confessed "but I need to. It's for the best. I'm not helping anyone by staying here."

"Yes, you are. Don't you understand what an important part of the team you are; as our doctor, as a friend. I don't even want to think about the Avengers without you and The Hulk."

"You would be fine. Everyone on the team is perfectly capable of handling themselves and although I like being part of the team I _need _to be helpful and I just don't see how the Hulk smashing everything in sight is doing that." Bruce took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. "I really have tried to figure out a way to stay, but I'm too dangerous, things fly out of control too quickly." Tony huffed out an agitated breath. "Look, if you're talking about the kidnapping, we were all taken by surprise by how out of control that got, but you know I've never had any issues with the Hulk. He's terrific and so are you. The way Steve and Natasha recovered so quickly; that's all on you. I thought it was a really great bonding thing no matter how it came about. You guys seem so much closer now and understand each other better."

"Yeah, I mean it's true, I like hanging out with them a lot. Caps fun to tease and cook with, while Natasha's lost a lot of the fear I always triggered in her and her cutting wit is a weapon in its own right. But no matter how nice it's been, they don't need me anymore. No one here needs my help anymore. So, I have to go."

"I need you. Help me."

"Tony, you're fine."

"No, I'm not. I've got a hundred and one things to do at work and in the lab. I never have enough time. Now that I'm part of the Avengers, I'm constantly fixing my suits and making new things for the team. I hardly have any time to create new ingenious inventions to better mankind any more. I know you could help me. God, Bruce, if nothing else, you have to stay to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Tony was trying really hard to get him to stay. If Bruce's problem actually was a need to be useful, Bruce would unpack his bag right now and tell Tony they better get to work, but the itch didn't work like that. The itch was purely injury-based, so unless Tony needed help with his new underground gladiator ring, he really shouldn't stay.

"I'm sorry Tony, but it's not that easy."

"Please don't go." Tony was dead serious, all joking and anger aside. His voice was strong in his sincerity, but his eyes looked vulnerable, waiting for the final rebuff.

Bruce studied Tony, sitting rigidly, waiting for the last blow and for Bruce to walk away. For the whole argument, Tony had been all riled up, body tense, hands in tight fists, fighting for him to stay, fighting like Bruce truly meant something to him, more than just a fun distraction, more than a house guest, like Bruce was something worth fighting for to keep by his side. What did that mean?

Damn it, fine, he would try. Of course, helping Tony in the lab was not going stop the itch, but Bruce wanted to find a way to control the itch and stay. Maybe working with Tony would give him an idea he hadn't thought of on his own.

"JARVIS, cancel my ticket." Tony's face lit up like the Fourth of July.

"I knew I could talk you around. Let's forget this whole thing happened and get working on a new project. I'm thinking either a city-wide air purification system or Hulk pants." Confidence and swagger restored, Tony headed off to start hashing out details.

So Bruce was going to try. He knew it wouldn't be easy and even though he settled back into his room and lab space, he didn't unpack his bag.

* * *

Note:

Sorry this chapter took so long. I had some writers block and then Bruce almost left for Tibet with out my permission. The next chapter will be some kind of thing were Clint gets hurt but it is getting harder and harder for Bruce to justify hurting anyone so he maybe the last one. Maybe two more chapters in this story, I will have to see. Thanks for reading and comments are appreciated. :)

*JHEP is the Journal of High Energy Physics.


	7. Chapter 7

Even though Bruce was able to stop Tony from calling the team at 3:30 in the morning, Stark was far from not using them and their influence to convince Bruce to stay. So the next day, Project "Fun Time" was implemented. Now not only did Bruce have extra lab time with Tony "bettering humanity", but the entire team was spending one-on-one time with him. The project mandated that a member of the team would have a day out with Bruce at least once a week, to explore the city outside Stark Tower. Tony seemed to have come to the conclusion that the reason Bruce almost left was not only his need to help and be useful, but also that he was going stir crazy. He had to admit it might be true; sure, the main reason was the itch but…..ever since moving in he hardly ever went outside. Except for the sneaking out he had done while using the network, Bruce was practically a hermit.

He never did figure out how Tony wrangled it, because Clint and Nat were gone constantly for SHIELD missions, but somehow Bruce ended up at a night club with Clint and an art gala with Natasha in the same week. Sure, they were probably doing SHIELD reconnaissance while taking him out, but he was fine with that as long as the guns stayed out of sight. He ended up in Asgard for a day touring the palace, with Thor as his personal guide, a week later.

Sometimes it was a little overwhelming, like when Tony found the time to take him out on the town. In the lab they were on equal footing and worked well together, but out in the public eye Tony was different, all flash and bang. A lot of the time Bruce was glad that most adventure days he found himself with Steve.

He liked going on outings with Cap. Seeing as they both felt kinda out of place in most situations, a day out with Steve was always within the city and simple. With no huge expectations, a walk in Central Park and finding the best pastrami sandwich he had ever eaten was a great time.

* * *

It was on one of these laid back days that a horrible screeching outside their favorite diner resulted in a four-car pileup. Burning rubber, gas fumes and yelling people pervaded Bruce's senses as Steve stepped forward to take over directing cops, traffic and spectators with ease.

With Steve taking care of the throng of people, Bruce stood back as chaos turned into order. Which left no place for Bruce to cut in, until a crumpled bike on the edge of the crowd caught his attention. An unseen bicyclist and distracted drivers seemed to be the catalyst of the pile-up and, of course, any bicyclist involved in that bad of a crash was going to need medical attention and fast. So by the time Cap had everything in order Bruce was nowhere near where he left him.

The man who had been riding the bike had a broken arm, shattered in three places and two fractured vertebra. If not properly treated, the injuries could lead to a bleed out and paralyze him. The focus needed to stabilize and keep the bicyclist still until the EMTs showed up was immense, but at the same time it was a god-sent relief. Bruce had been doing very well ignoring the itch for the last few weeks, but it had grown gradually worse from the day of the argument onward. Luckily, a few scrapes during training had held it at bay, but it was still as distracting and stressful as ever.

Finished with his part of the job, Steve went to look for Bruce and found him working to save a man's life. The difference between the closed-off self-effacing professor that Bruce was normally in public and Bruce as a doctor was staggering. Dr. Banner was confident, in charge and more relaxed than Steve had ever seen him out of the Tower. Even after the ambulance came Bruce showed none of his previous hesitancy as he effectively informed and directed the EMTs. It was amazing to see Bruce so in his element.

* * *

Clint had just gotten back from a mission and was relaxing in the living room when Bruce and Steve got back.

"Hey guys, how was the outing?"

Looking away from the TV program he was watching. It was startling how much better Bruce looked since the last time he'd seen him. Clint had gotten so used to Bruce hanging back and being polite, but always on guard that the man who walked into the room now might as well have been a different person. Maybe Tony was right and Bruce just needed to get out more.

"Wow, what did you guys do?"

Cap recounted their experience. Then he turned to Bruce and asked "Why didn't you become a doctor? You're great at it."

Clint knew Bruce was not a medical doctor but after all the times he had fixed him up after a mission he didn't really care. However this time he found Bruce's reaction a little odd. Bruce was run down a lot of the time and Clint had always figured it had to do with keeping the Hulk in check and working too much, but now after helping save a man's life, he seemed so relaxed and refreshed. How could fighting to save a man from dying in the middle of a four-car pileup change Bruce so much?

* * *

Getting a call-in from SHIELD because New York City was being attacked by an army of Dr. Doom's Doombots shouldn't have made Bruce happy, but it did. With the car accident almost three weeks in the past, the itch had been starting to seriously mess with his sleep again and nothing cleared his head better than a battle.

Unfortunately for the Avengers, Von Doom had made some major upgrades to his robot army. The entire confrontation was a fiasco. Not only did Dr. Doom get away with almost half of his robots still intact, he also managed to highjack all of the teams Stark Tec. Iron Man was totally incapacitated; the coms went down and anything even halfway electronic died. The Doombots were able to overpower any technology they could get close enough to blast with their new electro beams. The team was just lucky that Captain America and The Hulk could kick robot ass without fancy tec.

Because of the tec interference everyone had to fend for themselves during the battle and a lot of Stark- enhanced weaponry failed. By the time Doom retreated, the whole team had bruises and scrapes up to wazoo and Bruce had to use up all the Hydrocolloid dressings in his emergency kit. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but everyone was sore and boy was Tony pissed.

* * *

No, pissed was a massive understatement. After being pried out of his dead suit and arriving back at the tower, Tony when straight down to the lab. Jarvis had already run several scans on the battle and was working on pinpointing exactly how the Doombots were able to highjack the tec. The bots had hacked his tec with electrical interference, but needed to get within a certain range of the target before they activated the takeover sequence. Tony was hell bent on finding the optimum way to keep the Doombots away from the team's tec and fry the hell out of them at the same time. Thus Tony christened his new vendetta against Von Doom the "don't fuck with my stuff" project.

It was a Team project, because even though it hit Tony the hardest, the entire team needed new stuff. Weapons and tec were broken beyond repair, requiring at least a new part. Others needed to be redesigned from scratch. With so many things in need of fixing, Bruce found himself extremely busy. During a normal situation, Tony would have been the one fixing most of the weapons because he designed them. But Tony was absorbed creating and refining the ideal Doombot zapper. With his destructive energies focused elsewhere, the repair work fell to Bruce. With the blueprints and Jarvis's help recreating everything was simple enough, but weaponry had never been his field of study and Bruce was not as innovative as Tony. The work took its toll.

Tony's project did not go smoothly ether. The prototypes, although small enough to wear on the body and able to scramble the Doombots communication systems, were in no way strong enough to satisfy Tony's need for retribution. Doom targeting his tec was not only a personal affront to his designs, but a challenge that required Tony to show Doom that you never messed with the Avengers. Nothing short of total robot death and destruction would suffice.

* * *

"God damn it," Tony groused "They're still not working right."

Clint and Tony to walk into the lab together looking frustrated returning after another failed test run. As Tony's main tec tester Clint has been spending a lot of time in the lab giving tips and trying out different Doombot zappers for Tony.

"The microwave current surge isn't strong enough. EM Pulse works fine but the most I can get is a fizzle and I want an explosion, smoke and their internal circuitry to be so fried it isn't worth the time to fix." Turning to Bruce "What do you think?" straitening up from his hunched position over new targeting aim and Bruce sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

"Maybe if you fire the micro and EM pulses in an alternating pattern and refocus the energy output through the EPS coupler it will enhancing the blast radius of the electric field."

Bruce had become more unfocused and was serious worn down over the past week and a half. Clint had been watching Bruce closely since the car crash and could see how stressed Bruce was. He was nowhere his normal zen maybe if Clint hadn't been looking for it he would have pass it off as working too hard on multiple unfamiliar weapons but this was something else.

"Wait, how about this, if I up the power through the micro emitter by reroute it through the pulse generator that should enhance the electrical input enough to fry all their circuits and throw those tin cans on their metal asses."

Tony immediately typed the new power fluctuation equation recalibrates the device for a more concentrated initial output.

"Tony you should run a diagnostic program on that before you test it."

"Naw this is perfect it's going to work like a charm."

Tony was gone with Clint to the test room before Bruce could protest. Sighing he gets up and shuffles over to the screen rubbing his tired eyes trying to bring the equation into focus. The itch has been eating away at his mind making everything harder the battle felt like ages ago and he was now dealing with migraines every day. Even going over the math in the equation was extremely stressful and Bruce was amazing at math. Well at least the modification looked sound maybe Tony was right. It had just seemed off. If only he could come up with something to fix the itch Bruce. Wait! Right there, Tony did make a mistake in his calculations and if that part of the math is wrong then, went the device goes off…..!

* * *

"Tony there is something going on with Bruce he's been really run down lately. I think we should look into it."

"Do you think it's something to worry about?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is it's not normal."

"Normal?" Tony says staring at Clint incredulity "None of us are normal, but after we test this I'll hear what you have to say.

* * *

Bruce ran down to the observation room heart pumping, The Hulk lurking close to the surface. He had to stop the malfunction from happening. Sliding to a stop in front of the window he looks in on Tony and Clint standing in the middle of the testing range and just as he's about to pound on the glass to get their attention a cornea searing, white dome of electricity and light blinds him. Fizzing pops and a scream is accompanied by a low level boom from the overloading EMP.

Silence rings as dark smoke slowly floats up to the ceiling coming from the black scorch marks made by the dome. Bruce franticly tries to look through the smoke but he can't see Clint or Tony where they had been standing seconds ago, then alarms go off.

Bruce was yanking open the door of the testing range before he even registered what happened. He should have checked or made sure Tony ran his math past Jarvis before they tested it but he had been too tired to argue with an impatient Tony. The malfunction happened because of the extra energy funneled into the EMP it overload the core.

Green tinted his vision as two prone bodies lying on the seared floor come into view. No, he can't hulk out now his friends need him he will be no help if he changes. Take deep breaths, clam down. Tony's Arc reactor was dead from the EMP and with the arc reactor dead who knew what the extreme amount of electricity did to his heart. He was totally unconscious and unresponsive with burns all around the smoking reactor. Clint was conscious but he was clutching at his chest moaning, then all of a sudden an intense muscle seizures raking his body. Bruce tried to get Clint to uncurl and lay back but the convulsions where too strong meeting Clint's gaze Bruce saw the fear pain in his eyes before he went limp as a rag doll, unconscious. Bruce felt helpless as he knelt in the center of the electrical explosion with the bodies of his teammates.

* * *

**Note:**

Oh the drama! Sorry if there are spelling and grammar problems in this chapter my beta has been busy. Let me know what you think:) No one is dead, don't worry I couldn't do that, I hate main character deaths. Most of the tec stuff is mumbo jumbo I don't know anything about how to make something that cool. One more chapter


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes: **Okay so this chapter is the longest so far :D I had planned on it being the last one, but there was a lot more explaining to do then I thought. So I've still got to tell the team and have an intervention but Tony knows now and everyone is suspicious. Progress! Sorry it took so long. I feel sad finishing this story up, I've had so much fun writing it, but I will finish no worries :) Thanks for reading, comments are always appreciated.

* * *

Everything throbs and the pounding behind my eyes has synchronized with where ever that annoying beeping is coming from. As I become more aware of my senses, the pain stabbing me through the head morphs into what I can only describe as a very pissed off raccoon trying to claw its way out through my eyes. If only I could cover my face to block out the noise and light, but fuck, it hurts to move and not in the good way either. Well, I think the best option here is falling back to sleep for a very long time and never trying to open my eyes again, but my brain has other ideas. Flashes of memories start to fizz on the surface of my mind, bright, like colored bursts of energy. There was an overload while testing the new bot zapper. Hot, white, searing pain and next thing I know I'm on my back dealing with an overwhelming coconut taste in the back of my throat. Alarms are blaring, people talking too loud, adding to the start of a horrible headache. Piercing lights flash when I try to open my eyes and it's hard to breathe as smoke invades my lungs. Then all of a sudden the earth moves and everything goes black.

Well, considering what he could remember and how crappy he felt, Tony figured things could be a lot worse. This "hangover" did even hit top 10 status, since he was definitely wearing clothes, he was not outside and was not trapped in the wreckage of a 1967 Shelby Cobra. So he was surprised to find Capsical sitting beside his hospital bed. First of all, hospital? He must have really messed up to land himself in here. And second, why was Steve here? I mean, sure, Cap never shirked his duty, but Bruce was the one who usually kept him company whenever he was forced into a hospital bed. Not that he didn't like Steve, they just weren't as close and it was always nice to know that the big guy was protecting the arc reactor from over-interested parties. Bruce was better than any real doctor and much more trustworthy. Obviously there was more to what happened than he remembered. Tony groaned, deciding that sleep could maybe wait in favor of getting some answers.

"Hey Cap, how bad did I mess up this time?" Tony rasped, making Steve start. He must have been thinking about something pretty important if he hadn't noticed Tony waking up.

Cap smiled, "How are you feeling?"

"Wonderful, never better", he said sarcastically, wincing as he sat up "Now Cap, not that I don't love the idea of you watching over my sickbed, but aren't you stealing Bruce's job?" Tony was just trying to poke fun at Cap, but the look Steve fixed him with was legitimately worried.

"Do you remember anything that happened after the malfunction?" he asked.

"Not much, more like flashes than anything useful." Tony noticed the strain around Cap's blue eyes as he started talking.

"We need to find a way to help Bruce. Something's wrong."

"What happened? Is it Ross again? I thought I made everything quite clear to SHIELD."

"No nothing like that." Steve assured him "He just….. During the accident he was acting really unstable, saying crazy things…. things that were extremely out of the ordinary.

"Okay, you're the second person to say that Bruce has been acting off today." Tony said thinking back to Clint's request.

"I'm not sure what's wrong. He told me something, but I don't really understand what he was talking about." Distress crossed Cap's face "I wish I understood."

"Just walk me through it." Tony said as he settled in, ready to listen.

* * *

It all started with the alarms going off.

"Jarvis, what's going on?" Steve asked, switching from relaxing to "Captain American mode".

"It seems as if Mr. Stark and Barton have had an accident in the testing range. I have called for emergency assistance and they are on their way. Until then I suggest you go to help stabilize the situation with Dr. Banner."

God, if Jarvis called for emergency backup this must be bad, Steve thought as he ran, but then again everyone had been spending so much time in the lab, he was kinda expecting something to happen. At least Bruce was there already. Stopping at the large observation window looking in on the testing range, he assessed the situation, which was not how he expected to find it. Tony and Clint were down for the count. Smoke was rising from the middle of a charred crater. Okay yes, that was bad, but it was Bruce that really worried him. He was on his knees in between his teammates. He looked frozen, just blankly staring at his hands. What in the world had happened? Bruce should be in his element right now, in a flurry of actively fixing, taking control, helping, like during that car accident and after every battle. Was Bruce hurt too? No, he couldn't be. He was still very much Bruce Banner; he would have hulked out if he was hurt. Well, the best way to find out what was going on was to get in there.

Cap entered the range and was assaulted by the acrid smell of the explosion. He called Bruce's name, but Bruce didn't respond, didn't even acknowledge that he was there. Steve inched closer and saw a small tremor run through the doctor's body. He slowly reached out a hand to grip Bruce's shoulder. Instead of Bruce turning to him with relief or concern or telling Cap what was going on, he lashed out with a deep growl, his teeth barred and eyes acid Hulk green. Stepping back quickly, Cap put some space between himself and Bruce, because the Hulk was not someone you wanted that close to you, upset. Bruce's skin rippled from normal to green-tinted, but he just stared at Steve, a low defensive growl warning him away. Breathing hard, Cap watched as Bruce fought the internal battle with the Hulk, until Bruce seemed shove the Hulk to the back. His eyes bled back to brown as the green retreated and he regulated his breathing, finally seeming to recognize who Steve was.

"Steve?"

"Yeah, I'm right here." Cap let out the breath he'd been holding, relieved that Bruce had it under control for now. "Do you need help? Are you hurt?"

"What?" Bruce frowned, looking confused. "No, I'm not hurt, they are." He looked down at Clint and Tony, his eyebrows pulling together in distress "They need help, it's all my fault. Damn EMP generator, why couldn't I stop them? I should have stopped them." He looked back at Steve, his eyes a little wild, "The math wasn't right, how many times does that happen? I mean really." A dry laugh escaped his lips.

"It just had to be right now, didn't it, Tony? You know, I think you do these things just to see if you can push me over the edge." He was talking to Tony who was still very much unconscious. Bordering on manic, his breathing started to pick up again as he stared at Tony's unresponsive form.

"Okay Bruce, just focus for me. Look at me. What happened? What do you need?" Bruce's eyes whipped back to where Steve was moving to kneel next to him.

"Right yes, of course" he said, pulling back from the edge again. "Tony's reactor is fried and I mean smoking fried. It needs a new core for sure, but I don't know if that's the only thing wrong with it. It should be okay with a direct high voltage shock combined with an EMP." Bruce looked at Steve like he would know. "Right?"

"Ummm…. I'm not sure," Steve fumbled. "I think so."

"They've both been severely electrocuted." Bruce continued "Clint was convulsing and in a lot of pain, but at least he was conscious when I got here. He's been really still since he passed out. He could be dying of internal injuries as we speak." Close to hysterical, Bruce asked. "Is he still breathing?"

"Jarvis, we need a new reactor core here now, before the EP turn up."

"Right away, Captain Roger's, Miss Romanoff has been informed and is on her way now and the ambulance has just arrived outside." Steve could have gotten the core himself, but he knew leaving Bruce now would be a bad idea. He checked on Clint, he was breathing fine.

"Hey, Bruce look at me" He reached out again, trying to steady Bruce as he swayed. "Help is on the way. They'll be here in less than five minutes, okay? Everything is going to be all right."

"I should have been able to stop them before this even happened. I'm just so tired." He stated, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head "I lost focus. This would have never happened if Tony would have just let me go to Tibet."

"Bruce, what are you talking about? Were you going to leave?"

"Yes, and it would have been better. I hurt people just by being near them. What does it matter if the group's feelings get hurt? If I stay, they will all be dead, because I can't control it." He raved.

"I really don't think this is your fault" Cap assured him "and the Hulk is part of the team now, he doesn't hurt anyone."

"Not the Hulk, me, I hurt people." He cringed "I need to, it lets me think clearly. Everyone's been so careful and things have been so quiet. It's driving me crazy," running his hand through his curls, pulling at them. "I mean, I'm glad nothing horrible happened, but I need people, hurt people, to take care of or bad things like this happen." He gestured at Tony and Clint. As his body curled in on itself, he covered his face. "God, I just wish it would let me sleep."

Cap was totally at a loss as to what to do. Then Natasha arrived with the core. Once it was plugged in the reactor started up right away, thank God. The EM doctors were there a couple seconds later. They stabilized Tony and Clint and loaded them into the ambulance that was waiting outside.

* * *

"You and Clint are going to be fine, but what's wrong with Bruce?" Tony thought back to the night Bruce tried to leave. Maybe there was more to the conversation than what he'd assumed.

"I don't know right now, but the second they let me out of here I'm on it. There was something seriously wrong. I've never seen him act like that. Putting all that aside, it's amazing that he didn't Hulk out. You know, I didn't think he had that much control over the big guy in stressful situations. Maybe it had something to do with…."

Steve had stopped making eye contact when Tony mentioned the Hulk. He looking guilty and Tony felt more bad news coming.

"What?"

"You have a Hulk-size hole in your building where your testing range used to be and we haven't been able to locate Bruce since you guys arrived at the hospital."

Well, shit.

* * *

After three agonizingly boring days, Clint and Tony were finally released from the hospital. Tony headed back to the tower, ready to locate Bruce and get some answers. Instead of the high-tech manhunt he thought it would take, the elevator doors opened and Tony was greeted by the sight of Dr. Banner, sitting at the breakfast island, eating cereal and reading a Stark pad.

Bruce smiled up at him as he came in. "Hi, where have you been? I haven't been able to get a hold of you the past few days."

Tony stared in open-mouthed surprise. "Bruce? You're here…. Are you okay?"

"Sure, I'm fine. I mean, it did take me awhile to get back from Panama, but no big deal. I've done it before." The Hulk had run all the way to Panama to get away, but Bruce came back. Tony was confused.

"I didn't think you would come back." Tony said, sitting down at the island across from him.

"Yeah, I saw the hole in the building. I must have lost it pretty good. I'm sorry." He said, looking chagrined "I don't really remember what happened. I've been a little stressed lately, but I thought I would still be welcome." His eyes locked on Tony "If I'm not, I'll go right now." He stated, dead serious.

"No, don't go. Of course, you're always welcome here, no matter what. I just thought it would be harder to find you." They talked all morning and it seemed that Bruce didn't remember anything that had happened. Maybe it was because of stress, but Tony was betting that being so close to hulking out the entire time had caused the memory loss. Bruce never remembered what he did as the Hulk very well, even in the best of circumstances, but whatever the reason, he was back and acting normal so far.

* * *

And Tony was grateful; he wanted Bruce to stay. He loved having him around; Tony had never had a better lab buddy and Bruce's mind was amazing. However, the truth of the matter was that Bruce has been slowly unraveling since their talk last month. Tony felt stupid that he hadn't seen what was happening before. It's true he concealed it well, but it shouldn't have taken Bruce having a mental break down in the middle of an electrical explosion for Tony to notice.

Now that he was looking for it, the signs were all right there, staring him in the face. Bruce used to be zen, grounded and so passively happy that it was a little exasperating how mellow he was. Now as Tony looked back through recent security feeds and talked to the team, he saw Bruce had been letting little things slip while trying to cover up the fact that he was constantly balancing on a knife's point. It was like he was suffering from some kind of addiction, but Bruce would never take drugs and besides, they wouldn't work with his physiology. So if these strange mental ups and downs were not from outside stimuli, then maybe it was something internal, a mental stability issue, but what? Tony was not anywhere close to a psychiatrist and never planned to be, but he was a genius, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

"Jarvis, pull up everything we've got on Bruce, starting from when he came to live here."

"Of course sir, would you like the information organized chronologically?"

"Yeah, do that and make it into a timeline, focusing on Bruce's mental spikes. Highlight happy, stressed, upset and hulked out." Jarvis compiled the timeline within specifications, but Tony didn't really see much of a pattern, there was so much information.

"Okay, let's narrow to focus in on anomalies, like Bruce spending more time alone, acting out of character or behaving differently from the others in the house." As the new display popped up, he started to see something, especially around battles.

As everyone else's stress levels went up before a battle, Bruce's did the opposite. In fact, he seemed genuinely relieved whenever SHIELD called them in. As everyone else became more relaxed between battles, Bruce's stress levels grew exponentially worse. The only other times that Bruce seemed to relax centered around accidents that happened in the house. Looking at the timeline as a whole, the spacing of incidences at the house and big battles were at oddly even intervals. Did Bruce have something to do with that?

After the battles, Bruce always patched everyone up and even though hulking out always drained him, he was in high spirits. He was also close at hand whenever anyone had an accident, but he was a doctor. It made sense that he was always there and happy to help. Bruce would never hurt anyone…. right?

"Jarvis, have you noticed anything else Bruce could have done to create this pattern?"

As Jarvis brought up footage and multiple computer files all related to Bruce, Tony didn't want to believe what he saw. There were recordings of when Pepper and Thor got hurt, which Tony remembered well. Bruce was concerned and attentive throughout both incidents, but from Jarvis' perspective, the clips of Bruce before and after the occurrences made them look a lot more planned than accidental. Files flashed up on a crazy plan Bruce had concocted not long after that and then scratched around the time Tony had hurt his fingers. Next, there were phone calls Bruce had made to set up the network that got him kidnaped and what Jarvis believed the intentions behind it were. There were multiple clips of Bruce fixing and taking care of people with a mood indicator for each ranging from happy, relieved and excited, to worried, upset and guilty. Finally, there was his last minute purchase of a plane ticket headed for Tibet.

What in the heck was going on? Was he really making plans to hurt people, teammates, friends? No, no, Bruce wouldn't do that. Sure, the Hulk was a little unpredictable at times, but Bruce cared about everyone, he tried so hard to keep calm, keep everyone safe and he was just an all-around nice guy. Was Bruce really this mentally unstable the whole time, with no one noticing? The footage went back almost to the beginning of his stay, but Bruce didn't seem unbalanced until quite recently. There had to be something to explain this away or at least a fucking good reason behind all this.

"Jarvis, I need a list of acceptable reasons for his actions right now and why you didn't notify me of this sooner?" There had to be something he wasn't seeing, some important variable he didn't know about. Jarvis would have alerted him the second anyone was in real danger. Jarvis looked out for everyone on the team and was programmed to protect Tony, no matter what. God, how was this happening? Finding this out was surreal! How could Bruce have hidden this for so long? What in the hell could make him do these things? Jarvis' confirmation beep brought his attention back to his computer screens and there, flashing benignly, was the answer to his questions, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.


	9. Chapter 9

**Well here it is the last chapter finally done! I hope you have enjoyed my story but it's time to end it. I had a fun time writing and seeing the story evolved along the way with comments from readers :) Thank you all for sticking with it to the end. I would love to hear your thoughts.**

* * *

In Bruce's lab, the centrifuge whirred, papers rustled and the computer hummed quietly as it calculated, but Bruce couldn't keep his mind on his work. Something about the last few days made him extremely uneasy, not that he could remember why. The memory loss that occurred after hulking out was disconcerting yes, but not new; it had always been an issue. After he had asked, Tony filled him in on the events that had triggered his most recent hulk-out, but he got the feeling Tony was not telling him the whole story. In fact, the only reason Tony explained what had happened at all was because Bruce had smelled smoke coming from a fried wire in the arc reactor. He was sure something else serious had happened between his last memory and waking up in Panama that Tony purposefully edited out. Before Bruce could question him, Tony disappeared into the lab to fix the bad connector wire. It had been hours since then and Tony hadn't come back.

Lunch passed with no Tony. Bruce made dinner, which in most instances Tony would drop everything to eat, but there was no movement from his lab at all. Maybe Tony was wrapped up in something important. After dinner he settled down to read and wait Tony out. Bruce had questions and Tony couldn't stay down there forever. When he looked up, it was two in the morning and Tony hadn't emerged, which was concerning. He could see Tony skipping food, sure and sleep okay, but the coffee maker in the lab had been destroyed. There was no way Tony would work this long without a coffee break.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Dr. Banner."

"Is Tony still in the lab?"

"He is."

"Is he too involved to grab a cup of coffee?"

"Sir is dealing with an unexpected problem. Though I cannot understand his fixation. He is no longer listening to me."

"That bad, huh?" Tony not talking to Jarvis, must be big. "Well, I guess I'll have to go and see what I can do to tear him away." Bruce said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"Thank you, Dr. Banner."

"Yeah, don't mention it, Jarvis." Bruce stretched and got up from the couch, ready to extract Tony from the lab. Time to make sure everything was alright.

As Bruce approached Tony's lab it was abnormally dark, but Jarvis assured him that Tony was still working. Letting himself into the lab, he scanned past looming mechanical arms and shadowed work benches until he spotted Tony bent over the only light source in the room, his computer. Bruce navigated his way through the messy lab, trying not to trip on piles of discarded parts stacked on the floor. He was able to walk up right behind Tony without him looking away from the harsh monitor light. Multiple screens flew past on Tony's screen faster than Bruce's eyes could track.

"Problems?" Bruce asked, as he noticed Tony's hair standing up in weird tufts like he had been running his hand through it in exasperation. Tony whipped around cursing, surprising Bruce into taking a step back.

"Jesus Christ! Bruce? What the fuck?" Tony looked straight at his A.I.'s closest sensor, his whole body tense, "Jarvis, why in the hell didn't you tell me Bruce was here? I could have had a freakin' heart attack."

"Earlier today you rather forcefully told me to "cease and desist" unless the house was in the middle of an intergalactic confrontation, sir." Jarvis replied dryly "The house is in perfect working order and has not come in contact with any angry extraterrestrials. I was simply doing as ordered." Tony closed whatever he was looking at on the computer without turning back around.

"Sure you were..." he said, giving Jarvis the stink eye. "Traitor." Focusing back on Bruce, Tony looked pale, dark circles prominent under his eyes.

"You okay?" Bruce enquired. Tony seemed lost for a moment, looking at him and maybe it was just the light, but was there disappointment mixed in there too?

"Yeah… I think so." He said. What was going on? Tony had never looked at him that way before.

"Arc reactor more trouble than you thought?" Bruce asked and watched as Tony's eyes slid out of focus.

* * *

Absently Tony grimaced, rubbing the glowing circle visible through his shirt. Bruce was the only one Tony had ever let work on and study the reactor. It was the only thing keeping the handful of shrapnel away from his heart; it kept him alive and Bruce knew everything about it. The trust that went along with that was so explicit that it was too much to even comprehend. Tony had practically put his heart in Bruce's hands. How could Bruce have kept this issue a secret from him?

Soft pressure on Tony's chest snapped him out of his internal quandary. Bruce's fingers gently touched the humming metal casing, assessing the reactor through Tony's shirt. Graying curls were inches from Tony's face, Bruce's glasses glinted in the blue light, reflecting the focus of his inspection. Tony would never admit it, but he liked to be taken care of a lot and Bruce was always the perfect mother hen, with the medical knowledge to actually fix things.

"It seems okay, is it still bothering?" Bruce looked up from the reactor, his eyes sincere and a little worried.

Tony had researched MSBP all day, trying to understand why Bruce had cracked. What Tony found was that Bruce had a very odd case. Most people with the condition wanted attention and control, but Bruce's actions always revolved around helping and caring. It was really just an overdeveloped need to be useful and wanted. Yes, Bruce had hurt people, but it was because he lacked an outlet and was trying to repress the MSBP. Taking a deep steadying breath, Tony organized his thoughts.

"Oh, no it's fine, I was thinking about something else."

"It doesn't smell smoky anymore, so that's good, but you just got out of the hospital and it's 2:15 a.m. I haven't seen you all day." Bruce aimed a small smile at Tony. "I made curry and fresh bread for dinner."

"Yeah?" Tony returned his smile. He loved Bruce's cooking. "I'm sorry I missed it." The day had not turned out at all the way he planned and he could feel it catching up to him.

"Don't worry, curry heats up great, but I think maybe you should close things down and go to bed." Tony slumped in his chair, caving.

"Yeah, I think you're right, I was being stupid about this anyway" he said, gesturing at the computer. Tony had every reason to be paranoid after Obadiah, but he may have jumped to the wrong conclusions.

Sure, this was new information to Tony, and the team, once he told them, but it was not new to Bruce. He was the same man Tony had been living with for the past year. No different than the day when Tony had decided Bruce was worth protecting. One more hiccup in his plans to keep Bruce safe was not going to change his mind. It was truly amazing how long Bruce had held out on his own with the pressure he had been under during the accident, resisting the Hulk and his MSBP. What was most important now was to figure out a way to help Bruce channel this and get the team on board.

They'd reached Tony's bedroom and Bruce was saying good night.

"Hey, Bruce?" a calm smile and warm eyes waited for him to continue.

"Thanks for checking on me. Sorry I missed dinner."

"It's fine; don't worry about it. I know how it is to get wrapped up in the lab." Bruce grinned self-deprecatingly.

"I'm glad you came back. I want you to know that no matter what, I've got your back, the team has your back, and that's never going to change." Bruce looked confused.

"Thanks for taking care of us."

Well, this was different. Tony almost never said stuff like that. Cap was always talking about having each other's backs and every once in a while he would get a quick thanks from Clint and Natasha after patching them up, but this felt like something more.

"Sure, I mean, it's the least I can do." Tony was being weird, but it was nice to know that their friendship was strong enough to hold up to a hole in the side of Tony's house. Maybe things, as crazy as they were, would be okay.

* * *

Saturday was bright and sunny at the team breakfast. Pancakes, fresh fruit and bacon were on the menu this time around. As each person shuffled in with their coffee or juice Bruce noticed something seemed off. Everyone was eating and there were small conversations going on, but the team was acting odd. Quick furtive glances were being exchanged and Natasha wouldn't quite make eye contact with him. Bruce could feel an underlying tension radiating off everybody between bites of pancake. It was not visibly noticeable, but it was definitely there; unusual, protective, suspicious or was it anticipation?

Finally Bruce set down his fork "Okay, what's going on?" The team looked as though they had been caught red-handed. They all turned to Tony, who was the only one acting normally, standing by the counter, working on his second cup of coffee.

He sighed "Well, I'm not awake enough for this, but might as well." Tony walked over to the table and sat down across from Bruce. "How long have you been dealing with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy?"

Bruce froze, his breath caught in his throat. His muscles rigid, he held perfectly still, because if he didn't move then maybe he could pretend that Tony had never said anything.

"Tony! You could have handled that with a bit more tact," Cap scolded. Bruce looked back and forth between his team members as his mind reeled.

"Everyone knows? Oh god!" there was no recovering from this. He leaned back in his chair, putting distance between himself and the team as his hands clenched on the edge of the table. Panic was his primary emotion as he remembered all the things he'd done because of the itch. All the thing he had done to the team. The heat built as he continued to freak out and he felt like he might hulk out right there at the breakfast table. Then he looked up; Tony was still sitting right in front of him and Bruce found nothing but trust in his eyes. Remembering what Tony said the night before and how accommodating the team always was, the heat leeched out of him, leaving a cold, sinking guilt.

"For years," Bruce answered, curling in on himself, subdued. "It started to escalate, following my first hulk out." After that everyone started to ask questions. Cap wanted to know why he felt he needed to keep this problem a secret. Natasha asked about the methods he used to deal with it. Thor, how exactly it worked and what was needed to satisfy it. Last, Clint asked why he decided to stay with the team when it was so hard to deal with.

All through the interrogation everyone was calm and respectful, but each question they asked only cemented Bruce's belief that the team no longer wanted or trusted him. Two dangerous personalities was too much for anyone to overlook. He had tried so hard to be good and he really thought things might have worked, but now it didn't even matter. He felt like a horrible person; it was only a matter of time before they decided to throw him away or lock him up. He had always feared that things would end this way if they found out. With everyone's questions answered, Bruce took a shuttering breath and braced himself for the consequences.

"I know I have been deceitful and hurt people. I am truly sorry. I will leave right now and you will never have to see me again. Just give me a head start before you call S.H.I.E.L.D. or Ross." His request was met with an uproar, but not the kind he was expecting.

"What!?" Tony looked mortally offended. "Bruce, we would never!" The team was shocked to say the least. How could he even think they would ever do something like that?

"Yes, it was true that when Tony told us what was going on we were upset." Steve stated, feeling like he failed Bruce by not noticing sooner. "It's never fun to find out your friend won't ask for your help when they need it."

"It's not cool that you were hurting teammates, but we all saw the data Tony put together." Clint said, thinking back over all the times Bruce had helped him out. "You never did anything worse than a clumsy person might and you always cleaned up and made sure we were okay after."

"We saw how you were trying to find other ways of dealing with it." Natasha commented. To think that Bruce's kidnapping and the bomb was his attempt to protect them. "The risks to your safety and sanity were just not worth the repercussions."

"What have you done? Nothing so extreme as to change our respect for you as a friend and warrior." Thor stood, clapping a hand down on Bruce's shoulder. "This should not have come to pass; we can help you."

"I know you don't want to hurt anyone. You've been forced to by circumstances and we have all noticed you slipping lately because you've been holding back." Tony said. Everyone looks concerned, nodding their agreement. "It's not going to work in the long run."

"You need a stable outlet. Of course, we are always appreciative when you fix us up and I still expect to be number one in your book, but we are not always injured. Though sometimes it feels like it. You need somewhere safe to help others when we're all peachy keen."

Disbelief, yes, that's what Bruce felt. How could they forgive him? He certainly didn't forgive himself. "There is no way you can all just accept what I've done." he said, searching each person's face. "This is serious and it's not going to go away just because you know now."

"We understand that and it's true that we had some qualms with what you did, but we care about you." Cap asserted, his conviction apparent.

"We're a team, none of us claim to be perfect people." Natasha reassured.

"Not even close," Clint said around a piece of bacon, "but we stick together." His friends were amazing. Bruce hadn't felt this accepted as part of a group since becoming the Hulk. Finally, a place where he fit in.

"This is all unbelievable. I didn't know I meant that much to you. I do want to stay, but I still don't have a quality outlet here. I have been trying to find a workable fix for months; I'm just out of ideas."

"Well," Tony grinned, looking very self-satisfied. "Good thing I've got it all figured out then."

* * *

**Epilogue**

Three months later, Bruce looked up from patient charts, surprised to see Tony sauntering into his office with his hands buried in the pockets of his designer suit. "So Bruce, how's working life treating you?" Tony had "donated" a new wing to NYU Langone with the stipulation that Bruce be placed as a doctor in the new facility.

"It's good," Bruce replied "busy." Tony inspected the room.

"Not too busy for me, right?" He said, settling into the chair in front of Bruce's desk. Flashing a grin, Tony gestured at the medical degree hanging on the wall "It looks good" he commented. "You know you didn't have to get one." Tony would have had him work here with or without the degree, but Bruce felt it was important. If he was going to work at a hospital he should be an official doctor, no matter how much influence and money Tony could throw around. Anyway, he had been considering getting a PhD in medicine before the Hulk had become a problem. Now that Tony had cleared away the difficulties associated with that, he was happy to have one. It was not like he was that far off any way, with years of hands-on experience, but he was self-taught and Bruce wanted to do this right. He cared about every person he helped.

"I know, but I would not have started working here without one."

"Sure, I get it; but with the classes you had to take and this new job, I feel neglected." Bruce huffed indulgently. "I've been awfully lonely without you to bounce ideas off of and I'm practically starving without your home-cooked meals." Tony sighed over-dramatically, a hand on his heart.

"Tony, all my classes are done now, I only work part-time and I just made chicken tetrazzini on Tuesday." There was a soft knock at the door. Turning, Tony watched as a pretty nurse walked in, smiling.

"It's time for your rounds, Dr. Banner," she said. Bruce returned her smile.

"Thank you, Stacy," Getting up, he raised an eyebrow at seeing Tony's attention fixed on the retreating nurse. Leaving the office to start his rounds, Tony followed.

Tall, short, skinny and curvy nurses passed as they walked and no matter what they were doing, they all smiled when Bruce appeared. Tony, at his side, hardly got a second glance. Well, this was a new experience; he had never been the less interesting friend before. He was being more than appreciative with his perusal, but the nurses only had eyes for Bruce.

"Are you here for a reason other than checking out the nurses?" Bruce laughed, a little annoyed.

"Sure," Tony said as he watched Bruce skate through his duties. "but it's not that important." Bruce knew that dismissive attitude. He stopped dead, waiting for an explanation. "Just banged my shoulder up, no biggie. I thought maybe you could have a look at it."

Bruce had Tony into an examination room and stripped out of shirt and jacket in no time flat. The abrasion covering his shoulder was extensive, but not serious. Bruce carefully cleaned and bandaged the area. "Do I want to know how this happened?"

"It was nothing, just trying out some new suit modifications." Tony winced a little, trying to rotate his arm. "You seem to be adjusting well. How's the itch?"

"Well in hand." Bruce said, handing Tony his suit coat.

"Great," Tony met his gaze, eyes shining "I'm happy for you." And he was; Bruce was finally safe and secure. Bruce cleared his throat.

"Thank you," he said, smiling to himself "I'll see you at home."


End file.
